Fledgling loft hotel brand company NYLO Hotels achieved a major landmark recently with the signing of its first three franchise properties. The firm, helmed by industry veteran John Russell, announced the deals and introduced the new franchise partners at last week's Americas Lodging Investment Summit in San Diego.

All three deals are significant. Two are in major gateway cities (New York and Chicago), while the other will be the brand's first XP by NYLO, a select-service version of the brand. W Developments will build a seven-story, 179-room NYLO in Chicago's West Loop neighborhood, while New York-based Sentry Hospitality plans a 130-room property in Manhattan's financial district next to the South Street Seaport. Berhringer Harvard will develop a 127-room XP in Frisco Square, a 147-acre master-planned development in a north Dallas suburb. The XP version of NYLO features the same guest units and some of the amenities of the mother brand (gym, business center, some meeting space) but without The Loft, NYLO's signature bar and three-meal restaurant. The Frisco XP will offer a daily breakfast buffet.

Russell says all three franchised units should be under construction within six months, while its third company-owned property is "about 65-percent complete and on schedule for opening in June or July." The 200-room property is in Dallas' Las Colinas area.

NYLO received a scare last year when its major lender, Lehman Brothers, tanked. The company has since sourced additional funding to complete its Las Colinas property and to continue corporate development and seed franchise growth. NYLO opened its first two hotels (Plano, TX and Warwick, RI) last year and has 42 properties in its franchise pipeline, about half of which Russell says will be XPs.